Specification

16 columbiaforestproducts.com Hardwood Plywood Grading Guide 2015
Figure that is clearly visible but rel-
atively isolated on a given veneer
surface is dened in the HP-1 ANSI
Standard glossary as a cross bar.
Cross bar gure is permitted at
some level in all face grades.
Occasionally, the grain will be com-
pressed into what may be referred to
as a waterfall or quilted look.
Tightly compacted, densely populated
gure patterns are often called “ddle
back,” and, as the name infers, it is
commonly used in musical instru-
ments.
Flake, also called “ray ake” is not
actually gure in the same sense
as the other types shown here, but
rather a result of a radial cut veneer
that parallels one or more rays that
naturally occur in all species. Here
we see ake that is common in quar-
ter sliced red and white oak as the
rays in these species are quite large
in comparison to other species.
Occasionally, for reasons not fully
understood, conical indentations, will
occur within a developing growth ring
in many species of hardwoods, most
notably hard maple (Acer saccha-
rum). The indentations are repeated
in successive growth rings in a nested
fashion that, when the log in which
they occur are sliced or peeled as
veneer, the resulting gure pattern
displayed on the veneer surface
resembles, as the name infers, birds’
eyes.
NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS
Figure is a general term used to de-
scribe any deviation from the normal
growth of the wood grain, known
technically as wavy or curly grain.
Figure is so common as to occur in
all species to the extent that wood
completely lacking in gure is the ex-
ception rather than the rule. Slicing or
peeling veneer from a log with wavy
grain often creates distinctive gure
patterns that reect light differently
from the surrounding wood. Some
of these patterns are common to the
extent they bear familiar colloquial
names as shown here.
FIGURE
DID YOU KNOW?
n Columbia Forest Products
peels about a billion square
feet of decorave hardwood
veneer a year at our 3 veneer
mills. Columbia can source
sustainable veneers from
around the country or around
the globe.
n Columbia Forest Products
presses about 50,000 panels a
day at its 7 plywood facilies in
the US and Canada. The major-
ity of our products are made
with veneer core substrates.
Any decorave face and back
species can be applied to this
core to make it a beauful and
useful plywood panel.
n In 1998 Columbia was the
rst decorave hardwood
plywood manufacturer to aain
Forest Stewardship Council™,
or FSC
®
cercaon for our US
mills.
FSC-certied wood is
available upon request.
n The PureBond
®
system
received the aenon of the
EPA, when in 2007 it was
awarded The Presidenal
Green Chemistry Challenge -
Greener Synthec Pathways
Award. Columbia’s commitment
to no-added formaldehyde
manufacturing is beer for our
employees or customers and
the indoor air we all breathe.
FIDDLE BACK
WATERFALL
CROSS BAR FLAKE BIRD’S EYE
The mark of
responsible foresty